MRRORS.org and the Global Detention Project have submitted a joint report - Opens in new tab on the UAE's implementation of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Our report focuses on the situation of detained foreigners and migrant workers in the UAE.
Recommendations from our report include that the UAE:
- Ensure that people are not tortured or mistreated while in detention;
- Provide public statistics on the practice, scope and conditions of immigration detention;
- Ensure that trafficked persons are identified and not criminalised and placed in immigration detention;
- Ensure that women and their children slated for deportation are not detained and establish non-custodial, effective and accessible alternatives to detention;
- Ensure that domestic workers are not treated as “runaways" when fleeing from abusive working conditions; prosecuted for “absconding”; and punished with fines, imprisonment, and deportation;
- Ensure that detention is imposed only where it is necessary and proportionate in the person’s individual circumstances;
- Ensure that detention is maintained for the shortest time possible;
- Ensure that detention is reviewed by a judicial organ automatically and in regular periods;
- Ensure that immigration detainees are segregated from common law prisoners;
- Ensure access to immigration detainees by consular authorities;
- Ensure that ombudsmen can monitor the situation of immigration detainees and receive and investigate complaints;
- Ensure access to immigration detainees by family members and civil society groups;
- Ensure that there is no racial hierarchy of persons placed in immigration detention;
- Put an end to overcrowding.
Read the full submission here - Opens in new tab.
Kuwait is also under review by the committee. The Kuwait Society for Human Rights' submission - Opens in new tab also spotlights the situation of migrant workers.
